St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1887-11-13
some effort Mr.. Pinkerton succeeded in
breaking him down and

breaking MIN down ana
OBTAINED A FULL CONFESSION.
Bickle told where his baggage was,
and in the false bottom of his satchel
Mr.. PinkertOn found the missing money
entire, with the exception of $50. He
had been very economical. Bickle was
taken last night to Duluth, where he
will be held for trial.
In many ways he showed a cool head,
and was quite Shrewd in planning the
robbery. though he neglected to provide
for the little details that invariably lead
to detection. He chose that Friday for
the robbery because an emplOye had
been discharged that day, and he
thought that suspicion would naturally
fall ON him. He purpOsely neglected TO
make his clearances that day, in order
to make away with the money and put
it in secure place.
Bickle is bright, goOd-looking young
fellow, twenty-five years of age, and
was born in West POultney, VT. He
graduated at the age of nineteen from
BridgetOn high school, Maine. His
parents live at Bradford. Mass, and his
father is a dentist at that place. After
leaving school BIckle worked for Smith
& Mays at Skowhegan, Me. He then
went to Worcester, Mass, where he en-
tered the service of the Peoples Savings
bank as clerk, but did not remain there
very long. He proceeded 10 Portland,
Me. where he worked one month for
the Travellers Insurance company,
and after that studied dentistry
with his father until February, 1887,
when he went to Duluth to practice den
tistry there. He claims that state law
prevented him from practicing dentistry
in Minnesota, unless he passed through
the school of dentistry at st. Paul. He
came under the observation of MIR.
Ware, cashier Of the Union National
bank, who gave him the situation he
used to such criminal advantage. He
was promised promotion as soon as the
bank was well under way, it being
comparatively new institution.
what were Bickle's habits, Mr..
LOADER" asked the GLOBE man at the
conclusion of the interesting narrative.
lie neither drinks, smokes or SwearS,
and is a member of the Methodist
church. The trouble is, that he is too
good, by far
What do you suppose led him to rob
the bank?'
We'll, l suppose, being a restless
youth, he became dissatisfied. The
principal thing that led him to it, l
think, was because he had been reading
about Frank McNeely, aged only
twenty, who abSconded on Aug. 90 last.
after robbing the Biddeford Savings
institution of S300,000. Bickle read all
about this case and was quite struck by
the fact that McNeely has never been
| caught.
Mr.. Loader here showed a photograph
of handsome young McNeely, appended
being card Offering reward for his
capture.
Rather small reward, isn't it, Mr..
Loader"
well, YOU see, a great deal of Nc
Neely's swag was in government and
municipal bonds. He stole SlS1, 600 in
government bonds and s9l, 600 in munic-
ipal bonds"
Bickle had read of this case quite ex-
tensively, which fact, believe, had
much to do with his crime. | am glad
| he is caught, for we have been shadow
| ing every emplOye OF the Duluth bank.
| We even have been shadOwing one man
away off in another part of the country.
! The recovery of the money and Bickle's
| confession relieves the suspicion resting
| on all these other men. | have no idea
what his sentence will be, but I'm in
! clIned to think that on account of his
! youth he will not be severely dealt with.
However, his long generalization and
| cool. ShreWd manner may go hard with
! him."
HOW HE DID 1T.
Bickle told of the manner in which he
had committed the robbery. He fire.
quently noticed that while the teller
read a paper he held it above his face
in such manner that one could easily
| slip into the vault. For that and other
reasons of carelesSneSS on the part of
| the bank officials he planned the rob-
| berry. He first picked out a hiding place
for the money and waited his oppOrtu-
nifty 10 secure a large amount. The
money had come in payment for some
| mines, and at 1918 o'clock that day he
| extracted the money from the vault and
put it first in the letter press, then
| rolled tie money carelessly in news
| paper. and putting it inside of his coat,
| threw the coat over his arm. He hid
the money in the place selected. In the
! hotel he engaged several persons in con-
verSatiOn in order to prove an alibi i'll
case of being accused of the robbery.